Design of an icebreaker Offshore Service Vessel (OSV) of 80-m in length might seems a fair step up from a 30-m harbour tugboat, but all in a day’s work for Robert Allan’s Vancouver-based versatile naval architects, who have just been awarded a contract for two new designs for such vessels to be built in Turkey for operation in the shallow, seasonally ice-bound waters of the Caspian Sea.
TundRA 8000 OSV Preliminary Design: Image courtesy of Robert Allan
Robert Allan Ltd. is an independent, privately owned firm of Consulting Naval Architects founded in 1930 when Robert Allan commenced private practice as a Consulting Naval Architect. Year on year, just like Topsy the business grew and grew until in 2008 the company was restructured to a culture of employee ownership with eleven of Robert Allan Ltd.'s core group of senior employees becoming shareholders in the firm. But a present generation Allan – Robert G. – grandson of the founder, remains Executive Chairman and... [More]

A tugboat commissioned by a Japanese operator is the first to be fitted with a fully electronic control system uniquely installed on the rotor casing foundation of its Voith Schneider Propellor propulsion unit. An arrangement that not only saves space, but also simplifies maintenance and increases reliability.The new Voith Water Tractor (VWT) ‘Shinano’, designed for harbour assistance and escort duties, was constructed by Niigata Shipbuilding based in Niigata, Japan, for owner Dr. Nakamura, who operates his fleet of tugs in the port city of Iwaki.
Voith Water Tractor ‘Shinano’: Photo credit Voith TurboVoith Electronic Control SystemThis first installation of a fully electronic control system in a VWT, now integrated into the propulsion system, offers actuation and control of the propulsion systems, remote diagnostics via the Internet and communication through an embedded CAN networks. (The CAN bus – Controller Area Network – is designed to allow mic... [More]

Damen Shipyards, headquartered in The Netherlands, has just secured an order for no less than fourteen ship-handling tugboats from the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) nine of them to their latest ASD TUG 3212 design, and five to their better-known 2810 design. The new 3212 tugs, designed to push, pull and tow, will be assisting tankers at nearshore loading terminals and will also be equipped with a powerful fire-fighting system for station at the new single point moorings further offshore Kuwait.These vessels, due for delivery from Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania in 2014, have been tailored to meet KOC’s requirements, but the design features of Damen’s standard version of the optimised model 3212, with its stronger 80 ton bollard pull are the focus here.
Damen Shipyards ASD TUG 3212:Image courtesy Damen Shipyards
New Hull FormAt 32.70m in length overall, 12.82m beam, a draft aft of 5.6m and a displacement of approximately 800 tons the ASD Tug 3212 has a completely revised hull... [More]

North Sea emergency response tugboat Nordic has a remarkable ability to move in close to an oil tanker or a liquid natural gas carrier leaking toxic and flammable gas in order to fight any fire and take the stricken vessel in tow. Nordic has been strategically stationed by the German authorities on the North Sea coast, ready, willing and able to cope with that sort of eventuality since early 2011.In an environment heavily contaminated with gas the crew would be encapsulated safely in the tugboat’s air-sealed superstructure stronghold to breathe from an eight-hour supply of oxygen; all the while, ingeniously gas-protected MTU (Tognum subsidiary MTU Friedrichshafen) diesel engines would continue to pound away down below decks.
North Sea Rescue Tugboat Nordic: Photo credit – Pedwiki
Gas-protected MTU Diesel EnginesNordic’s main propulsion engines are two specially equipped 20-cylinder MTU Series 8000 diesel engines rated at 17,200 kW, while two MTU type... [More]